Alert archive / Nebraska / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 97, NWS Hastings, NE

May 13, 2003Merrick County, Nebraska

NWS Hastings, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 13, 2003, 5:54 PM CDT for Merrick County, Nebraska. It was in force for 51 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 13, 2003, 5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 2003, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Merrick County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:57 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 13, 1:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 212 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 212 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -282 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1567 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 212 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 2.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

704 
WUUS53 KGID 132254
SVRGID
NEC121-132345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
554 PM CDT TUE MAY 13 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MERRICK COUNTY IN CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 552 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM 6 MILES EAST OF PALMER TO 6 MILES
  WEST OF CHAPMAN...OR FROM 26 MILES NORTHEAST OF GRAND ISLAND TO 9
  MILES NORTHEAST OF GRAND ISLAND...MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS LINE OF SEVERE STORMS INCLUDE...
  CHAPMAN...
  CENTRAL CITY...
  CLARKS...

PEOPLE IN MERRICK COUNTY SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE
AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND LARGE HAIL THE
SIZE OF GOLFBALLS ARE LIKELY.

LAT...LON 4125 9825 4090 9826 4107 9797 4132 9764
$$
10

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 13, 2:07 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 13, 2:07 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
207 PM CDT TUE MAY 13 2003

MAIN CONCERN IS TSTMS THRU THE EVE AND THEN AGAIN LATE THURS

WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATES UPPER TROF PROGRESSING INTO THE
WESTERN DAKOTAS WHILE AT THE SFC...THE PRE FRONTAL TROF WAS LOCATED
FROM WEST CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA THROUGH SW NEB...AND COLD FRONT
EXTENDING THRU NEB PANHANDLE.  LATEST LAPS DATA INDICATES CAPE
VALUES AROUND 1500J/KG WITH WEAKENING CAP.  TSTMS ALREADY FIRING
ALONG BOUNDARY FM NR VTN TO BBW AND SATELLITE SHOWS CU FIELD
EXTENDING SOUTH TOWARD MCCOOK.  SVR WATCH JUST ISSUED FOR CWA AS
LINE OF STORMS DEVELOP...AND PRIMARY HAZARD IS HAIL/WIND.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE EAST ACROSS CWA REMAINDER OF AFTN/EVE THEN
STORMS TO END BY MIDNIGHT AS FRONT MOVES EAST INTO EASTERN NEB/KS.
CLOSED UPPER LOW WILL PROGRESSING SOUTHEAST THRU SOUTH DAKOTA WILL
REACH NORTHERN IOWA ON WED.  ANY ADDITIONAL PCPN SHLD REMAIN EAST OF
CWA...WITH TEMPS COOLING BACK TO NEAR NORMAL...ALTHOUGH WILL SEE
BREEZY/WINDY CONDITIONS.

ANOTHER SYSTEM WILL TRACK ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AND APPROACH
THE CWA LATE THURS INTO FRIDAY.  MODELS ARE TRENDING FURTHER SOUTH
WITH THIS SYSTEM...AND HAVE LIMITED POPS TO THE SOUTHERN 2/3RDS OF
THE CWA.  GFS IS MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH NORTHWARD EXTENT OF LEAD WAVE
WITH SYSTEM THAN ETA...SO TRACK WILL STILL NEED TO BE MONITORED.

DRY WEATHER FORECAST THRU THE WEEKEND...THEN TSTM CHCS RETURN
MON/TUE AS NEXT BOUNDARY AND UPPER TROF APPROACH.

.GID...NONE.

FAY

Hazardous weather outlook, May 13, 1:45 PM CDT, 4 hours 9 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-141200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
145 PM CDT TUE MAY 13 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM FOR PORTIONS
OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE
DEVELOPING THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE SANDHILL REGION OF NEBRASKA.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD SOUTH AND EAST THIS AFTERNOON
AND INTO THE EARLY EVENING...WITH THE CHANCE FOR SOME STORMS OF
BECOMING SEVERE...ESPECIALLY EAST OF HIGHWAY 183. THE MAIN HAZARDS
WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

A FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL MOVE WEST TO EAST ACROSS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...IN RESPONSE TO AN UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE PUSHING EAST OF THE CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ROCKIES.
DAYTIME HEATING AND SOUTHERLY MOIST FLOW RETURNING TO THE REGION
AHEAD OF THE FRONT...WILL FURTHER DESTABILIZE AN ALREADY UNSTABLE
ATMOSPHERE...AFFORDING THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS ANTICIPATED FROM LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
THE EVENING HOURS ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL
KANSAS.

10

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 13, 2:21 PM CDT, 3 hours 33 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
221 PM CDT TUE MAY 13 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0220 PM    10 W ORD                  NE   .75 INCH HAIL
05/13/03   VALLEY                         REPORTED BY SPOT
                                          WEATHER OBSERVER.

Local storm report, May 13, 4:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
430 PM CDT THU MAY 13 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0428 AM    PLAINVILLE               KS    1.75 INCH HAIL
05/13/03   ROOKS                          PUBLIC REPORT

Local storm report, May 13, 5:52 PM CDT, 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
552 PM CDT TUE MAY 13 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0546 PM    3 S DANNEBROG             NE   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/13/03   HOWARD                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

0547 PM    2 N CAIRO                 NE   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/13/03   HALL                           REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

0550 PM    2 S ST LIBORY             NE   .88 INCH HAIL
05/13/03   HOWARD                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 1:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Sherman, Valley	51 min
May 13, 2:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Greeley	43 min
May 13, 3:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Valley	47 min
May 13, 4:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Valley	49 min
May 13, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Sherman	45 min
May 13, 4:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Greeley	48 min
May 13, 4:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Howard	61 min
May 13, 5:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nance	53 min
May 13, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Sherman	31 min
May 13, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hall	54 min
May 13, 6:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Hamilton, Polk	39 min
May 13, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hamilton	48 min
May 13, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	York	66 min
May 13, 6:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Fillmore	51 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Nebraska, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.